https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-ato...calnika-gur-ministerstva-oboroni-ukraini.html
Vadym Skibitsky, Deputy Head of the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
We are strengthening all types of intelligence
07.09.2025 09:00
It is well known that military intelligence is the “eyes and ears” of the army. Without it, successful command of troops and victory in modern wars are impossible. On the eve of the professional holiday, which is celebrated in Ukraine on September 7, Ukrinform asked Vadym Skibitsky, Deputy Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, how the intelligence community has changed during the war, what are the enemy’s capabilities in the defense industry and on the battlefield now, whether to expect provocations from military exercises in Belarus, whether the Russian Federation is moving its defense enterprises away from the border with Ukraine, and why European countries are not shooting down “shaheeds” on their territory.
WE ARE STRENGTHENING ALL TYPES OF INTELLIGENCE
- In Ukraine, on September 7, we celebrate Military Intelligence Day, so in this context, I would like to learn about the transformations that have occurred in the work of the intelligence community during the full-scale invasion and especially over the last year - new capabilities, artificial intelligence, human resources, etc.
- The transformation of the Main Intelligence Directorate began very actively back in 2015. With full-scale aggression, after the Russian Federation directly entered the territory of Ukraine with regular armed forces from various directions, we began to further improve our structure, develop all capabilities that relate to all types of intelligence without exception. We have increased the space segment, the intelligence direction, we are actively using cyberspace - these are cyber-active measures, cybersecurity, cyber defense.
In addition, we use not only our domestic developments in analytical work, but also switched to NATO standards, standards of leading countries of the world for close interaction. Regarding the analytical component, since June 2022 we have already been working with our partners on the issues of targets, determining centers of gravity and other areas. This is all based on common standards. In addition, our special units have received a significant boost and significant development. In fact, from a small unit that existed before the full-scale aggression, we now have many units, and they are on everyone's lips - these are "Artan", "Shamanbat", "Kraken", "Timur" and others, our society knows what operations they conducted, they know them by the results of the operations. And we are developing this segment. Today, it is impossible to resist the aggressor with conventional methods and methods of conducting intelligence, as was the case before the war. In addition, we have strengthened (and, I think, our community, our public has felt this) all divisions of our strategic communication.
In my opinion, for today the presence of the Main Intelligence Directorate in the media space is sufficient. Our duty, starting from 2014, and our main goal was to bring to our society, to the Western community the whole truth about the aggressive policy of the Russian Federation, its actions on our territory. After all, in 2014 everyone started saying that this was a "civil war", but in fact it was the beginning of aggression, armed aggression against our state.
Another of the most important areas is patriotic education, which the Main Intelligence Directorate has joined. We have sponsored schools, a very wide range of non-governmental organizations, volunteers who interact with us. We bring patriotism to the masses, all those slogans and developments that contribute to raising the morale of our soldiers. That is why, wherever on the front, when a special unit of the Main Intelligence Directorate appears, believe me, the moral and psychological state of the combat units of the Defense Forces immediately increases. After all, they understand that these are truly professional, trained servicemen who are able to perform any task. As a result, we can say that a lot of effort, resources, and time have been directed in the complex to improve our work and increase its efficiency. I want to emphasize that we are strengthening all types of intelligence.
- How much has the number of GUR increased?
- We cannot name the total number, but I will say that it has increased many times. First of all, our special component has been increased. We have created an active operations department, which deals with all operations carried out both on the front line and in the temporarily occupied territories of our state and on the territory of the enemy. This is a new element that appeared during the war.
- In an interview, the head of the GUR, Kirill Budanov, reported on the increase in the number of women in the GUR structure. How does this affect the quality of work and is this trend regarding gender changes observed in other countries?
- From my experience, I know that in special services, in intelligence organizations of many countries, there are a large number of female analysts. And this is a fact. Let's take other leading armies. A very simple example is Israel. There, women do compulsory military service. Regarding military intelligence, we have indeed increased the number of women, but this trend in Ukraine is observed not only in the Main Intelligence Directorate.
Let's take a broader look. First, we have an increased number of women studying at higher military educational institutions. These are female officers who then go to various structures of both the Armed Forces and the Defense Forces. Secondly, this is a patriotic attitude of women on an equal footing with men to serve, be responsible, and participate in combat operations. As for the Main Intelligence Directorate, women head departments in our country, many women hold the positions of heads of departments. For example, as the head of analytical units, this is a significant part. Up to 25 percent of positions in information units are held by women who perform various duties. In addition, a significant part of women in support units are in logistics, finance, communications, and medicine. We have a powerful diagnostic center, where the vast majority, up to 80 percent, are female military personnel and civilian women. That is, this is a trend that is inherent today not only to the Main Development Directorate, but also to all our units of the Defense Forces.
- How do you see the development of military intelligence in Ukraine in the near future and do changes in geopolitics affect these processes?
- The question is serious, it involves not just development, but also the application of all available new approaches and technologies that have appeared in the world. What is meant by this? New approaches are a completely different perception of many factors today, which are related to the ideological component, the second is the financial component. For example, if earlier the agent was given cash or transferred to an account, now these are completely different methods. This is the use of cryptocurrency, the use of the latest means of communication and lines of communication that did not exist before. Look at what can now be done using Telegram channels, other social networks, which have really made a breakthrough both for managing agent networks and for recruiting agents, and any other actions. And this can be in every corner of the world.
- Can we say that Telegram is now used most actively, for example, for recruitment?
- You understand, today there are so many social networks, different channels used for communication. Let's take the simpler ones - Signal, WhatsApp and others.
That is, this is a big step in communication, but these are also new approaches to using such means of communication directly for our intelligence activities. In addition, if we are talking about information, and you correctly mentioned artificial intelligence, these are new forms, modern methods of information processing. Huge amounts of information have appeared, which today a person is no longer able to fully process. This requires special software, special databases, artificial intelligence. Although I believe that artificial intelligence is specialized software products that allow you to quickly perform primary processing of information and prepare it for further processing.
In addition, when it comes to geopolitics, what has emerged is broad cooperation between intelligence services, special services, and close partnership. Today, it is simply impossible to be alone and fight new challenges and threats that arise before the country. This requires interaction, information exchange, and joint special operations to neutralize the threat. And alone, perhaps, no country in the world can cope without this. For example, the operations that are currently being conducted are the conflict between Israel and Iran. Israel was also helped by partners by providing intelligence information and other things. Therefore, today, close interaction and cooperation with partners and allies are critically important in order to solve any problem through joint efforts.
- How would you assess the level of cooperation between Ukrainian intelligence and international partners? There have been threatening statements that, for example, the US may refuse to provide intelligence to Ukraine.
- There are a lot of different statements, but practical work continues, and it is beneficial for both sides. We have a mutual interest in the information that we receive and that which can be obtained from us. We have built constructive relations and we hope that cooperation will continue in the same direction.
THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION HAS USED 50 TO 75 PERCENT OF FORMER STOCK OF WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT FROM WAREHOUSES
- Let's analyze the current capabilities of the Russian Federation in the defense-industrial complex and on the battlefield. To what percentage has Russia used its reserves of equipment and weapons that have been stored in warehouses since Soviet times? And accordingly, what are its current capacities in the production of the main types of weapons?
- Indeed, before the war and in general after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation accumulated a significant amount of weapons and military equipment in warehouses and arsenals. And if we talk about how much there is there, then the Russians themselves could not count how many there were. I remember that in the early 2000s there was information that the Russians "lost" 1,000 tanks somewhere beyond the Urals, which were unaccounted for and were standing on the territory of a training center, and no one knew about them. That is, this is a huge amount of weapons that were in warehouses. Already after the beginning of 2014, they systematized all this, created the appropriate Mobilization Deployment Centers, in particular, near our borders in the Southern Military District, the former Western Military District, where they concentrated equipment to ensure mobilization deployment.
Since the beginning of the full-scale aggression, most of the weapons that have entered the units - tanks, artillery systems, armored personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles - have been in storage, have undergone either modernization or restoration, respectively - and have been transferred to the troops for waging war.
As for the quantity in stock today, it is difficult to say, because there are different figures. It was said that the Russian Federation has already used from 50 to 75 percent of the stocks of various weapons from the previous stocks. At the same time, I would like to note that, despite the used stocks, Russia has retained the ability to manufacture new types and new weapons directly in the defense-industrial complex. And, probably, this is due to the fact that most of the defense industry enterprises of the Soviet Union were not closed, they reduced their capacities, but Russia was and is one of the main exporters of weapons abroad.
We clearly understand the figures that the Russian Federation has planned for today regarding the release of new types of weapons. If we talk, for example, about modern aircraft, which are Su-57, Su-35, Su-34 and Su-30, then they have planned 57 units for this year. Almost 250 T-90M tanks are new, not modernized. In addition, about 1,100 new BTR-3, BTR-82A, artillery systems - 365 units are also new, not modernized. At the same time, the modernization and restoration of weapons and military equipment are thousands of units of weapons used by the Russian Federation.
However, both Ukraine and the Russian Federation are currently focusing significant attention on the production of those types of weapons that are effective on the battlefield. We are talking about unmanned systems, FPV drones, various missile systems. Russia is also trying to increase this armament. In 2025, the aggressor planned to produce almost 2.5 thousand so-called high-precision missiles of various classes. These include cruise and ballistic missiles of the Iskander complex, hypersonic missiles "Dagger" and others. Russia intends to increase production. In addition, we have noticed a significant increase in the production of unmanned aerial vehicles, primarily such as "Geran", "Harpy" and FPV drones.
RUSSIA WILL NOT GIVE UP THE PRODUCTION OF HEAVY EQUIPMENT IN FAVOR OF DRONES AND MISSILES
- Is it correct to say that the Russians will reduce funding for heavy equipment and weapons and direct more of it towards drones and missiles?
- This is absolutely incorrect. Military intelligence has data on the armament program of the Russian Armed Forces for 10 years, from 2026 to 2037. The Russians have clearly stated there the main requirements that they place on the defense-industrial complex regarding heavy weapons, warships, aviation, and missile systems. We know that they will develop strategic and long-range aviation through modernization and the creation of new aircraft.
By the way, the Russian Ministry of Defense has identified three main battle tanks. This will no longer be a wide range, as before. The main battle tanks will be the T-90, Armata, and T-80. In addition, the newest artillery systems are the Coalition, Msta of various types, Malva, Hyacinth, and Magnolia. That is, they will try to introduce this weapon into production, taking into account the experience of using this weapon on the battlefield. In addition, there will be a wide range of missile weapons, starting from the strategic and ending with the tactical level. Moscow is planning new long-range missiles, modern hyper-speed anti-ship missiles. That is, they envisage three areas of improving missile weapons: the first is increasing the range, the second is increasing accuracy, and the third is increasing the warhead.
Because striking the territory of Ukraine is one combat radius, and to prepare for war with NATO countries by 2030, the combat radius of such weapons must be larger. This is what they are putting into their weapons programs.
Regarding new approaches – FPV drones, artificial intelligence. The enemy seeks to increase the share of unmanned and unmanned systems on the battlefield in the future to 40 percent. We record (not only the military, but also our civilians, society feels) how much the number of drones increases during the Russian Federation’s strikes on our territory.
The indicated directions are defined as the main ones. In addition, I emphasize: there will be no abandonment of artillery systems and heavy types of armored vehicles - this is inherent in the classical approach, classical warfare.
-
JATKUU OSASSA 2/2
05SEP – Ryazan Oil Refinery: ELOU-AVT-6 (largest CDU, ~6 Mt/yr) struck again after August damage.
